The Poor Man at the Well.
I SUPPOSE you never traveled far on foot. It is a very slow way. I will tell you of a poor man who did. Was he going home? Alas, he had no home. He was a very good man, and preached to people whenever they would stop and listen to him. He did not travel alone. There were twelve other poor men who went with him. They followed him wherever he went, because they loved to hear what he said about God and Heaven. One day they stopped at a well. It was about noon, and they were tired, and hungry, and thirsty. There was a village a little way off, and his friends went to buy some food; so, being left alone, he sat down to rest himself by the side of the well. He could not get a drink of its cool water, because the well was deep, and no bucket was there. Pretty soon a woman came to fill her jug with water, and the man said, “Give me some drink.” He spoke kindly; but the woman, seeing he was a Jew, answered him rudely, for she did not like Jews. Her answer did not make him angry. He only told her if she had asked him for water, he would have given her living water. The woman thought that was strange enough, since he had no bucket or pitcher, and the well was very deep; and she began to say there was no better water than that in the well, and she was sure he could give her no better. But the poor man said he could give her better water, “for,” he said, “whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” The woman, I suppose, thought that would save a world of trouble, and she would not have to come every day to fill her jug; so she said, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” Then what did the poor man do? He began to talk with her about her sins, and she was surprised to find he knew all about her past life. It quite frightened her. “I see you are a prophet,” she said. Then he told her who he was. Who was he? He was the Son of God. When the woman found out it was Jesus Christ who was talking to her, she left her jug and ran back to the village. What for? To tell folks. “Come,” she said, “come and see a man that told me all I ever did. Is not this the Christ?” The people went with the woman to see the stranger at the well. There he was sitting, with his twelve friends around him, for they had brought him some dinner. But he did not eat; he was so glad to talk to the woman and the people. He wanted to save their souls; for, you know, he came into the world to save our souls from death. The people were glad to hear him talk. They saw he loved them, and they begged him not to go any further, but to stop with them. So he went into the town and stayed two days. He told them about God, and about sin and Satan, and that he had come to save them by dying for them. A great many people believed what he said, and they could not help loving him. They did not believe at first, when the woman told them; but as soon as they heard for themselves, “Now,” they said, “we believe that this is the Saviour of the world.” Did he give them water to drink? He gave them water from Heaven. What kind of water is that? The blessed Spirit of God. When people have that in their hearts they love God, and are very, very happy. Not anything else can make you happy always—not money, nor new clothes, nor picture-books, nor toys. These delight you for a little while, but the pleasure is soon over. If you love God you will always be happy; you will thirst no more. Jesus is not sitting by the well now. He is sitting on his throne in Heaven. But if you speak to him he can hear you. He sees you, he knows all about you. If you do naughty things he knows it. Everything you do is written down in God's book. Do you not want to be very happy, my dear child? I know you do. Then pray to him, “Give me thy Holy Spirit, O Lord Jesus, and make me a holy child.”